The state requires a company have a minimum of 40 leased acres in order to drill, Brower said.

Jordan would pay $74,377 to the township for the leasing rights.

"Everything they showed us looked good," said Waterford Township Supervisor Gary Wall, "and very safe and in the best interest to us."

The oil company has leased more than 30,000 acres in Oakland County, Brower said. The company does not plan on fracking, Brower stated. Fracking is a controversial method of mining in which cracks are created in shale rock to obtain gas, oil or other substances that are inside it.

One oil well has been drilled in Indian Springs Metropark in White Lake, and a second currently is being drilled there, said Brower.

"We don't say right away if we have found oil," he said. Eventually the company must report its findings to the state Department of Natural Resources.

Ground surface conditions impact drilling.

"We like to be out in mid-summer or mid-winter when the ground is solid," Brower said.

He noted natural gas is not very valuable. "We aren't looking for gas," he said. "We're hoping for oil."

Down the road Waterford residents could see a well being drilled in the township, he said.

"It depends on how good the (Indian Springs) well is," Brower said.

Contact Carol Hopkins at 248-745-4645 or carol.hopkins@oakpress.com. Follow her on Twitter @OPCarolHopkins or on Facebook @OPcarolhopkins.

Jordan Development, founded in 1996, is a medium-size oil exploration company, the ninth largest in Michigan in 2010, according to the Department of Environmental Quality. Jordan currently operates more than 450 oil and gas wells around the state. Call Jordan Development at 231-935-4220.